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R&B Singer Al Wilson Dies in San Bernardino
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R&B Singer Al Wilson Dies in San Bernardino
R&B Singer Al Wilson Dies in San Bernardino
Rhythm and blues singer Al Wilson has died. The longtime San Bernardino resident known for the hits "Show and Tell" and "The Snake" died Monday of kidney failure. KPCC's Steven Cuevas offers this appreciation.
["Show and Tell" by Al Wilson plays]
Steven Cuevas: Al Wilson's smooth, honeyed delivery often drew comparisons to Lou Rawls and Wilson Pickett. Turn on the radio 35 years ago and it would be hard to escape that silken croon.
"Show and Tell" was Al Wilson's breakthrough. It topped the Billboard charts in 1974. Just as his star ascended, Wilson's career was derailed by a string of bad business deals. It didn't help that the public's appetite for R&B singers waned in the late '70s.
But Wilson never stopped recording and performing. The last decade brought a resurgence of popularity, a flood of CD reissues, and regular work on the "Oldies" circuit.
[Recent Al Wilson song plays]
Cuevas: The teenage Al Wilson moved to San Bernardino with his family in the early '50s. That's where he stayed. He raised a family and could often be found performing at the Route 66 Rendezvous nightclub in San Bernardino, and other local nightspots.
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Al Wilson died Monday of kidney failure. He was 68. He'd been slated to headline a benefit concert for San Bernardino Valley College next month. The show will go on, and Al Wilson will be the first inductee into the school's Arts Hall of Fame.
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